Apple's 2017 Environmental Report: Promote the supply chain 100% to use green electricity to achieve a "closed loop supply chain" On the recent World Earth Day, Apple released their latest environmental report, which is generally promoting the entire Apple supply chain, as well as Apple's own All the facilities we operate can use renewable energy. At the same time, we are pursuing the goal of no longer mining new mineral sources and only using recycled raw materials to create new products. To this end, Apple has also promoted several construction plans. One of them is Apple's new data center in Jutland, Denmark, which will use renewable energy to operate. At the same time, the huge heat energy generated by the data center will be fed back to the local community as energy for the heating system. Part of the energy source for this data center comes from biogas generated from agricultural waste, and part of the waste raw materials used to generate biogas can be transformed into agricultural fertilizer and fed back to local farmers. Apple's technology was developed in partnership with Aarhus University, Denmark's largest university. In addition, due to the use of renewable energy, this data center will not increase the burden on the local power grid system and can operate independently. Generally speaking, data centers usually have mechanisms to recover heat energy, but some also discharge it directly. A few data centers, such as Amazon's, use excess heat energy for office heating. Another new facility is a new data center in Ireland. Here, Apple switches to using ocean tides to generate electricity, and its partner is Ireland’s Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. This organization, established in 2002, is Ireland's official organization and aims to make Ireland a country that mainly operates on renewable energy. In addition, in the US state of Oregon, Apple has also launched the largest wind power procurement plan in history to support its data center there. At present, Apple's own data center has reached 100% renewable energy usage rate, but some hosting parts have not yet. As for Apple's offices, Apple Stores and other facilities around the world, the renewable energy ratio has reached 96%. The "renewable energy" Apple refers to includes wind, solar, and hydropower. The new headquarters Apple Park, which is about to open, also uses renewable energy. However, since Apple’s actual main source of energy consumption lies in its huge supply chain, Apple has also launched the supply chain-related renewable energy program “Clean Energy Portal” to help third parties switch to renewable energy. Apple pointed out that by 2020, they will be able to produce 4 gigawatts of clean energy globally, including 2 gigawatts in China. This would account for 30% of their total carbon emissions, or the carbon emissions of 1.5 million cars per year for 20 years. Some suppliers have also committed to using green electricity, such as Ibiden, a major Japanese printed circuit board manufacturer. In the long run, this may also be a key investment in whether Apple can enter the supply chain. Taiwanese factories, including Compal and Catcher, have plans to fully produce products using renewable energy in 2018 - but only in Apple's supply chain. It is rumored that Apple has also met with the Taiwanese government, solar energy, and wind power industry in 2016, hoping to switch the Taiwanese Apple supply chain to renewable energy by the end of 2018. Apple, which just released this year's annual environmental report, stated a special plan in the report: to stop mining new mines so that every Apple product in the future can be made from recycled raw materials. Apple calls this production method a "closed-loop" supply chain. Apple pointed out that the traditional production method is linear, that is, raw material resources are first mined, then processed, shipped, consumed, and finally discarded and dumped into landfills. However, the New York Times reported in 2013 that Delhi in India, Agbogbloshie in Ghana, and Qingyuan and Guiyu Town in Guangdong, China are all places where large amounts of electronic waste are dismantled or buried. In addition to organized players, poor local residents sometimes burn discarded mobile phones themselves and then resell small amounts of gold to recycling companies. As for the poisonous lead liquid and the thick smoke produced when burning, they remain in the local area. What Apple calls a "closed loop" production line is to end the mining of raw materials and waste. On the one hand, it only uses recyclable parts to manufacture products, and on the other hand, it also recycles various renewable resources to reduce the impact on resources. Mining dependence. To this end, Apple has first released a robot production line called "Liam" in March 2016 to completely disassemble iPhones, and also launched a recycling operation called "Apple Renew." Also announced with Liam at that time were the iPhone SE and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. In addition to components, the sewage generated during production is also within the scope of dense return production lines. Apple currently has 86 factories, and the wastewater reuse rate reaches 36%; Apple’s supply chain saved 11.3 million cubic meters of water in 2016; and Apple product packaging paper also uses recycled paper, or 99% Trees from sustainable woodlands. They also hope to make Apple products more durable, so that the first user can resell or give the product to other users for renewal, thereby reducing resource consumption. In Apple's plan, iOS devices and Apple Watch can be used for 3 years, while Mac and Apple TV are 4 years. Apple pointed out that their environmental protection decisions are jointly taken by CEO Tim Cook and Vice President Lisa P. Jackson. Because the level is high enough, Apple's Environmental Initiatives has the authority to work with all teams, including the product design department. Data source: CSRone Sustainability Reporting Platform (2017-04-24)
